Risking It All
by Razzle
Summary: Gambit genuinely loves young Jubilee, but will she reject him and will the other X-Men label him as a cradle-robber when he confesses his feelings to her? What else will he end up risking for love? Gambit-X-Jubilee
1. Chapter 1

Gambit stared at himself in the mirror. _What are you thinking?_ he thought to himself, running a hand through his spiky hair. _She's fourteen. You're twenty-seven!_ As he continued staring at his reflection, he imagined himself with a billy goat's beard. _Am I just being an old goat?_ he wondered, sighing and turning away. But as he picked up a deck of cards off his dresser table and started shuffling them absently, he knew it was more than that - it wasn't that at all. He didn't feel unholy and creepy when he looked at Jubilee. He felt like his heart was a dove flying past the sun on a summer's day when she smiled, and like it was being hit with a hammer whenever she was in danger. He hated seeing her in danger. But how to tell her that? So he treated her like a kid and tried to keep her out of the way of most of the action whenever Mutant-Normal fights broke out or Magneto showed up to cause trouble again.

There was a knock at the door to Gambit's room, and in his surprise he mentally sent the whole deck of cards flying in all directions. Cyclops stood in the doorway and held the door open, somehow giving Gambit a reproachful look with that visor of his. "There's been an attack by Magneto. Storm's hurt, but Jean's taking care of her and says she'll be fine." Cards fluttered to the floor between the two X-Men.

"So, somebody wants to play rough?" Gambit said angrily, habitually putting his thoughts into Vegas-style words. "He made a bad move by hurting Storm. Gambit's not the only one who will be angry about that!"

Cyclops nodded. "Come on. Professor X has called a meeting of the X-Men."

"I wouldn't miss it," Gambit said vehemently, grabbing up three or four decks of cards and stuffing them up his sleeves as he ran out of the room after Cyclops.

* * *

Professor X wheeled up to the X-Men's meeting room table in his electronically motored chair. "I don't believe the initial attack was planned," he said to the assembled X-Men. "Storm and Jean were out in the X-Jet trying to find a new mutant that Cerebro indicated might be in danger, and apparently they met up with Magneto and a few of his Brotherhood of Mutants. But Jean tells me that when Storm was injured, she reflexively defended herself quite violently and Mystique may have suffered more serious harm. I have not been able to contact Magneto yet, but I fear that he may wish to seek revenge for Mystique's injuries."

Wolverine stood across the table from Xavier with his arms folded, regarding him with a feral stare of thoughtfulness. "I guess I know how that'd feel," he sympathized grudgingly. "I just hope he doesn't give _us_ more reason to want vengeance!"

Professor X gave Wolverine a concerned look. "Vengeance and revenge are how a lot of wars are started," he pointed out quietly. "Fear starts others, like this one between the mutants and the normal humans. We must tread carefully. I have no wish to inflame our recent and rather flimsy truce with Magneto and his followers."

Cyclops nodded. "Right. So what do we do, prepare for an attack and wait?" There was no hint of irony in his voice as he asked the question.

"Maybe we can do more," Gambit spoke up. "If someone can get to Magneto and get him to tip his hand, we could find out if he _is_ planning a strike against the X-Mansion or not."

"That's a good idea," Jean Grey said as she walked in through the door, still wearing her lab coat. "Cerebro can't tell us much about what Magneto is planning with that helmet of his, but he's always trying to convince our kids to join his cause." She sighed, looking around at all of them. "It'd be risky, though. Suppose we send him one of our youngsters and he really does convince them to join him? He can be very persuasive, especially to the young and inexperienced who haven't seen through all his tricks yet."

Professor X smiled at Jean. "Learning how to handle risk is one of the things we must all do as we grow up," he said confidently. "I trust our students. If we can find a volunteer," he swept the room of X-Men with his eyes to make sure it was clear that it would have to be a strictly volunteer mission, "I'm sure he or she will be more than able to handle Magneto's witty charm."

"Hmm, I don't know," Rogue drawled. "I don't like sending one of those kids into Magneto's grasp unprotected. Is there anything we can do to give 'em an extra edge, Professor?"


	2. Chapter 2

Gambit stood outside Professor Xavier's study, a knot in his stomach. All too soon, Jubilee walked up to the door where he was waiting for her. He had to struggle to control his emotions at finding out that, of all the kids in the Mansion, it had to be _her_ who had been chosen out of the volunteers to inflitrate the Brotherhood of Mutants to find out what Magneto was up to. Gambit stepped reluctantly aside to make room for Jubilee to enter the study. As she reached out with her right hand to open the door, he reached out with his own and caught her by the upper arm to stop her for a moment. "Wait, petite," he said hesitantly. Then, awkwardly, he went on ahead as if to get it over with. "I - I care about you. I don't want you to get hurt." He looked at her in poorly stifled, anguished concern.

Jubilee smiled innocently and warmly up at him. "I care about you too, Gambit - everybody here at the Mansion. I'll be careful," she promised.

A little confused and frustrated that Jubilee hadn't taken his meaning, Gambit cleared his throat and steeled himself for the absolute worst. "Jubilee, I don't really know how to tell you this, so I guess I'll just have to do it wrong. I love you."

Jubilee stared at him as though she hadn't quite heard right. Blushing, she shook her head to clear it. "I'm sorry," she stammered. "What?"

"I love you," Gambit repeated.

Jubilee's eyes widened in shock. "I - I thought I was daydreaming," she said, her face red. "I - um, I have a... a crush on you, Gambit," she admitted.

"I'm sorry," Gambit said, immediately dropping his hand from her arm and backing away a step. "Maybe I should never have said - you're too young. I'm sorry, petite," he apologized. "But I wanted you to know how I feel, before you go."

Impulsively, Jubilee flung herself at Gambit and hugged him fiercely. "I'll come back!" she promised vehemently. "We can work this out then!" Suddenly shy again, she let go and stepped away, then turned and grabbed the doorknob, hurrying into Professor X's study.

* * *

Professor X looked knowingly at Jubilee as she entered his study, but tactfully said nothing. He refrained, of course, from prying into her mind, but her overflow of emotional energy and red face were enough to tell him that she'd just been involved in a teenage encounter of some kind - probably romantic in nature.

"Thank you for this, Miss Lee," he said respectfully, gesturing at the chair on the opposite side of his desk from himself. "Please sit down."

She did so, and Xavier continued, "I cannot guarantee to be with you the whole time. We don't know what tricks Magneto and his mutants may have up their sleeves. But I promise you, I will do my best and I will stay with you for every second I can. Ultimately, this will rest on your shoulders."

Jubilee nodded solemnly. "I understand. I'm ready, Professor."

Xavier smiled, nodding approvingly. He reached forward across his desk as Jubilee leaned forward to meet him. He took her head in his hands and closed his eyes, concentrating. Unexpectedly, he was thrown back in his chair with surprising force, with love-tinted images of Gambit that he knew he had no right to see flooding his mind. With a rueful groan, he used his strong arms to reposition himself in his chair and looked at the shaken Jubilee. "I must apologize, Miss Lee. That intrusion was completely unintentional. Your emotions and thoughts were too strong for me to block out with no warning. Do you want to talk about it?" Professor Xavier was somewhat shaken himself, but for the sake of his student he maintained a dignified and respectful demeanor.

The young lady stared at him in guilty confusion. "I'm sorry. It's not your fault at all, Professor. I just talked to him, and... he said he loves me. I - I don't know how to react. I was already embarassed enough to be a stupid kid with a crush on him! Now I find out he likes me back? It's actually kind of scary. I just don't know what to do!" She had obviously not meant to blurt all that out, but once she started talking it was like a dam's spillway crashing open.

"You are many things, Jubilee," Professor Xavier said gently. "But I am quite convinced that stupidity is _not_ one of your traits. You are young. You have plenty of time to explore your feelings. I suggest you talk to some of your friends. Perhaps Rogue can offer you some advice," he added vaguely, not wanting to be the one to elaborate. That was Rogue's right. "The only advice I can offer you, myself, is to be careful and make sure that you make the right choices in your life - whatever those choices may be. You are really the only one who can determine that, in the end. Don't let other people sway you from what you know is right." Professor Xavier, being old-fashioned, had some very strong opinions of his own on what was right. One of those was that he strongly believed it would be right not to interfere with Jubilee, regardless of his own views. "Shall we attempt again?" he offered, holding out his hands to her.

Jubilee nodded, smiling. "Yeah... and thanks, Professor."

* * *

__

Professor?

Jubilee thought worriedly from her seat in the X-Jet as she watched Storm and Jean piloting the plane.

_I'm with you,_ Xavier's reassuring thoughts touched her mind like a hand on her shoulder.


	3. Chapter 3

"All right, Jean," Storm said confidently, "Do your stuff!"

Jean Grey took in a deep breath, then turned and smiled reassuringly back at Jubilee where the teenage girl sat strapped into her passenger seat behind the two older mutant women. "Hang on," she advised, then turned back to stare into space in front of herself as she concentrated. With a quick mental wrench, she ripped the end of the X-Jet's wing off, sending it hurtling seemingly out of control to the ground below. Storm's eyes frosted over white as she used her own power over the weather. She caused a supporting wind to rise up under that side of the plane, softening its landing -- a few short miles from where they had spotted two of Magneto's followers in the woods of Arkansas. Jean wondered briefly as her stomach did gymnastics what they were doing out in the middle of nowhere like that. She suspected nothing good.

Behind her, Jubilee let out a quiet scream just as the plane crashed. Jean and Storm, well-used to these kind of landings, grunted at the impact nonetheless. Jean quickly unfastened her seatbelt and jumped back to where Jubilee was sitting to check on her. Actually, she was impressed that Jubilee _hadn't_ been screaming the entire way down. The kid had guts -- but she would need every bit of them to deal with Magneto. "You okay?" she asked in concern.

"Uhhhhhhhhhh....." Jubilee groaned. "Fine. Just a little airsick." Jubilee clicked the latch on her own seatbelt open and stood woozily up. "Let's go," she said, taking a steadying breath.

Storm nodded. "An excellent idea. Come, let us move quickly." As she spoke, she snatched up a backpack filled with survivor gear in one hand, and tucked an emergency first-aid-kit under her other arm. Taking her lead, Jean Grey and Jubilee also gathered up some basic survivor gear and followed her out of the X-Jet.

As they had expected, it was only a minute or two before the nearby mutants caught up to them. The first indication of this was a long tongue that flicked out from behind them and knocked Storm's med kit away. As they whirled around, Sabretooth quickly grasped Jean by the throat and threw her against a tree. Jean slumped to the forest floor and lay still on her side, knocked out.

Jubilee gasped. "How dare you!" she screamed in outrage, throwing sparks of color from her outstretched hands at Sabretooth. He was hit full in the chest and knocked backwards a step, but managed to stay on his feet.

Storm started to raise her hands, then hesitated for a moment. She glanced at Jean, then over at where the first aid kit was laying. It was all the time Toad needed to swing down out of the tree he'd been sitting in and fly at Storm's stomach feet first. He kicked her hard, and she fell down onto her back, choking for the air he'd knocked out of her.

A blue jay dived suddenly out of the air and landed on Storm's heaving chest. It grew quickly, but maintained its bright-blue color. Within moments, Mystique sat straddling her fallen enemy. She smiled predatorily down at Storm. "I see you recovered, as well," she observed before punching Storm hard in the face.

With a soft groan, Storm's head lolled back and she was as still as Jean.

Jubilee could only stand and tremble, staring in horror at the scene in front of her. _Professor!_ she thought desperately. _Storm -- Jean -- they're hurt! I didn't know that was going to happen!_

_Neither did we,_ Professor X mentally assured her, and Jubilee could tell from the touch of their minds that he was worried as well. _This is a much more efficient attack than we expected. Try to stay calm! I will send Cyclops out to get them. They'll be fine. I know your position._

Jubilee just barely stopped herself in time from nodding, and took a deep breath. _I understand, Professor._ She backed up slowly to a tree, and stared at the three mutants who were still standing in fear that she didn't have to pretend she was feeling. They stared back at her, unmoving.

Mystique was the first to take action. She stood slowly up and stepped away from Storm, towards Jubilee. "Who are you?" she demanded cautiously. She flicked a glance at the other two, who instantly scurried to either side of Jubilee. She was now completely penned in.

Jubilee swallowed. "Jubilee," she said bravely. "I'm an X-Man, and I can take all of you!"

_Good,_ Professor X encouraged her. _But be careful not to provoke them too much. Especially Mystique. She is Magneto's right-hand woman. She is unlikely to take kindly to too much resistance._

Sabretooth grinned widely. "I'm the boogie-man, and I'll have you for supper."

Toad chuckled insanely as Jubilee stared angrily at Sabretooth. "You're just a bully! You don't scare me," she snarled. She was feeling almost as feral as him herself just then. After a moment, it occured to her to add, "I'm not scared of anybody! Not you, and not the normals who want to kill me."

Mystique gave her a look of amused surprise. "Are you sure you're on the right team? Professor X wants to _help_ the normals," she said with an air of revealing a delicious piece of secret gossip.

Jubilee stared at her in disbelief. Luckily, Mystique seemed to take it as surprise at the Professor, rather than disbelief that she was _expected_ to feel any surprise.

Mystique sauntered forward until she was right in front of Jubilee, then her right hand snaked out and caught Jubilee's left wrist. "Come with us," she murmured warmly. "I think Eric would like to meet you."

Jubilee forced herself not to pull away from Mystique's frighteningly vicelike grip, and stared up into the mutant woman's yellow eyes in unmasked curiousity. _I'm in, Professor._


	4. Chapter 4

"Wait!" Gambit called out as he ran to catch up with Cyclops. "Gambit's coming with you," he said firmly.

Cyclops turned and regarded him in surprise, but it was Wolverine who spoke as he looked over at the others in fashionably-affected boredom. "Oh great," he said sarcastically. "The Ragin' Cajun."

Gambit shot Wolverine a dirty look.

Wolverine returned it with glee.

"Let's go," Cyclops said decisively, interrupting the spat between the two rough and tumble X-Men. "Fine, you can come with me, Gambit. I could use your help. Now, let's hustle!" He turned again and hurried out to the X-Mansion's large garage. He headed straight to one of the sports cars that Professor X kept parked there for the X-Men's use. Not even bothering to discuss who would drive, Cyclops jumped into the driver's seat while Gambit hopped in on the front passenger's side.

* * *

It took most of the rest of the day, but Mystique and the others finally led Jubilee into a small Arkansas town near the woods where they'd met her. Mystique shifted to a more "normal" skintone for the occasion. To Jubilee's surprise, they didn't lead her to a magnificent, ominous stronghold - but rather to a somewhat run-down and run-of-the-mill hotel. They'd already checked in, apparently, because they headed straight to room #47. Mystique opened the door with an old, battered key hanging from a large, sort of diamond shaped plastic card with the room number written on in faded permanent ink marker. As Jubilee stepped inside, she was surprised again to see not Magneto, as she'd expected, but a teenage boy with blazing red hair sitting on one of the beds with his head in his hands. He looked up to glare at the four mutants, and Jubilee saw that his eyes were an equally startling ice-blue.

_I don't understand, Professor._

"You too?" the boy asked Jubilee warily, staring straight at her and awaiting some kind of a response.

"What?" Jubilee responded after a few moments, confused.

"Yes, she's a mutant too," Mystique answered for her. "Just like you." As she sauntered into the room past Jubilee, she shifted her skintone back to its usual amazing blue. She turned and smirked at Jubilee, then continued on to sink gracefully into the old beat up chair next to the dresser table. She lifted the out-dated phone and dialed. "We've got another one, Eric. One of Xavier's. This one joined us on her own." After a pause, she smiled and said, "I understand." She hung up. "Make yourselves comfortable, kids. Magneto will be here soon." Toad had bounced onto the vacant bed by this time and grabbed the remote. He was flipping channels and ignoring the rest of them. Sabretooth had closed the door behind himself and stood guard between it and the others, arms folded across his chest.

_This boy must be the mutant I found before with Cerebro's help. Apparently, Magneto got to him before we could._

Jubilee took in a deep breath, then sighed. "What did she mean by that?" she asked the boy, nodding in Mystique's direction. "Didn't you want to meet Magneto, too?"

The boy snorted, and cast a defiant glare at Sabretooth. "Hardly. I just wanted to live a _normal_ life, if you get what I mean. I don't look like a total freak, and I don't make things explode when I walk into the room, so I figured I could just let this slide. But it looks like we mutants have a habit of rounding each other up and drafting them."

Jubilee gave him a look of surprise. "I'm Jubilee," she introduced herself. "My given name is Jubilation Lee. What do you mean drafted?"

"I'm Peter Saunders," the boy returned. "But you can call me Thermostat. I was minding my own business, doing my homework in my room yesterday, when these people came to my house. They claimed to be government agents and told my parents about my powers. Too bad for me, my patriotic parents were only too willing to cooperate by handing me over. The next thing I knew, that chick was turning blue and they brought me here. I've been told their leader, Magneto, wants to talk to me about my future - and obviously they meant working for them."

_We've got to help him, Professor!_ Jubilee thought fiercely.

_I agree,_ the Professor's thoughts reached her. _But Peter may not take much more kindly to us than to Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants. All the same, we'll do what we can for him._

"So you're on the normals' side?" Jubilee said cautiously, glancing over at Mystique. The older mutant woman was watching the interchange with amusement, and Jubilee remembered that it was important not to give her position away. "You know they hate us, right?"

Thermostat nodded grudgingly. "I suppose... I just don't see why I should have to be so different!"

"Hey," Jubilee said, sitting down on the bed next to him and taking his hand in hers. "Being different's not a bad thing, you know. I was terrified when I first got my mutant powers, but think of what we can do with them!"

Thermostat looked at her. "Yeah... I guess," he said hesitantly. He gave Jubilee a small smile. "You don't seem like a freak to me, anyhow. Maybe this isn't so bad."

Jubilee warmly returned his smile. "That's the spirit!" she said encouragingly. "So what's your power, anyway?"

"I can see heat - you know, like infrared. I can tell to the degree what temperature something is if I touch it. For example, it's exactly 73 degrees Fahrenheit in this room, and your hand is 97 degrees."

"Wow," Jubilee said, impressed. "I throw sparks."

Thermostat grinned. "Now that I'd love to see."


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Party time! This morning I checked my story hits and saw that "Risking It All" is my very first story to have a total of 1,000 hits (counting all the chapters)! YAY! So I decided to up and finish chapter 5 for all of you and post it as a 1,000-hit present for my readers! Thank you to EVERYONE who's been kind enough to read this story, and especially thank you to my reviewers! nerak1138, I appreciate your kind review! Xeelia, I've noticed you've reviewed me with lovely reviews repeatedly! I really, truly appreciate it! :D

* * *

The door of the hotel room burst open and Magneto marched in past Sabretooth, who stepped aside to allow him through. "Well, well," he said, his eyes sweeping over Jubilee and Thermostat. "I was expecting one new recruit, but it appears I have two."

"Sir, yes, sir," Peter said sarcastically, throwing Magneto a mocking salute. "You wanna bet?"

"What are you doing?" Jubilee hissed to him. "That's _Magneto!_"

"Indeed I am," Magneto agreed, sharing a sharp glance with Mystique. "Now, why don't you tell me what you're doing here?" he demanded, giving Jubilee a piercing stare.

Jubilee swallowed hard and stammered, "Well, uh-I was with Storm and Jean when... When they, well, attacked us," she said, gesturing around at Toad, Mystique and Sabretooth. "But then Mystique explained how you're all working to help the Mutants," she added hurriedly.

"I see," Magneto said non-commitally. He seemed amused.

_Be careful, Jubilee,_ the Professor mentally warned her. _Eric knows - or suspects - something that he isn't sharing._

_Right,_ Jubilee replied in her mind.

Unexpectedly, Magneto removed his helmet. He held it in his hands as he walked back and forth in front of where the two teen mutants sat. "Jubilee, isn't it?" he inquired somewhat rhetorically. "And Mr. Hothead here, you would be Thermostat - am I right?" He stopped pacing and turned to face them. "I sent Mystique and the others out to collect _you_, Thermostat, but my dear Jubilee..." Magneto abruptly placed his helmet onto Jubilee's head, while Mystique lithely moved in to hold her arms down in an embrace from behind. "Why don't you tell me why Charles sent you to visit me?"

_I'm in trouble,_ Jubilee thought with a wave of panic, staring up at Magneto. She felt her thoughts bouncing around inside her own skull. Magneto's helmet had effectively cut off her telepathic link with Professor X.

* * *

__

Jubilee's in trouble,

Gambit thought in agitation as Cyclops drove down the highway. _I just know it._

"So," Cyclops said, interrupting Gambit's morbid train of thought. "What's the big idea, anyway?"

"What?" Gambit asked, mystified.

Cyclops glanced sharply over at the other man before looking back at the road. "Isn't she a little young for you? What is she, half your age? What were you _thinking?_" Cyclops glanced over at Gambit a second time, making the other mutant grateful for his protective visor. Gambit was strongly reminded of the old saying 'if looks could kill.' Cyclops was definitely not pleased, to say the least. In fact, he was flat out furious.

Gambit blushed as bright red as a jack of hearts. "Just how did you hear about that?" he asked, evading the question. He was still too busy criticizing himself for just that same thing to have an answer for Cyclops.

"Jean. She got it from Rogue, who heard about it from Wolverine..."

"Nevermind," Gambit interrupted him, thoroughly embarrassed. Was it absolutely neccessary for the entire X-Mansion to know what was going on with everyone's personal lives at all times? Apparently so. After a long, awkward silence, Gambit glanced at Cyclops and could tell from the firm line he'd set his mouth in and the steely glare he was giving the highway that he was still waiting for an answer. Gambit was not off the hook yet.

"What do you want me to say?" he asked in frustration. "What was I supposed to do? Just keep it a secret? Jubilee deserves better than that."

"You're right," Cyclops said. "But that's still no excuse. How is she supposed to have a chance at meeting other boys her age and finding out if she falls in love with one of them eventually?"

"I didn't expect her to feel the same way," Gambit said quietly. "I don't know what to do about it now. I just wanted her to know so I wouldn't be just some creepy stalker _and_ an old goat."

Cyclops glanced at Gambit again, still displeased but considering the things he'd heard. "Well, I don't think you're evil anymore, then," he said in a vague attempt at humour. "Just really stupid."

Gambit groaned and hit the back of his head against the top of the car seat. _How right you are, my friend,_ he thought, going right back to wallowing in self-recrimination.

When they finally reached the place where Professor X had told them to go, they saw Storm kneeling by Jean's side with the first aid kit laid out next to her. Storm still looked a bit dazed, but Jean was still laying crumpled on the forest floor where she'd fallen.

"Jean!" Cyclops shouted, jumping out of the car and racing to her side, Gambit close behind him.

"Scott...?" she mumbled, reaching a hand weakly up in his general direction. "I'm all right... I think." She was conscious, but barely.

"Not exactly," Storm corrected her. "But you will be just fine." She looked at Cyclops and Gambit. "It's hard to tell here, but I think she has an internal head injury of some sort. I believe, however, that she has been stabilized. Here, help me get her to the car."

Gambit nodded, and the three mutants gently lifted their friend and carried her to the waiting sports car. Cyclops used a free hand to open one of the car doors, and they gingerly laid Jean out on the back seat. Storm slid in after her, using her lap as a pillow for Jean's head. She nodded at Cyclops, who shut the door. The others got in as well and with another worried glance back at Jean, Cyclops started the car's engine and headed back up the dirt road towards the freeway.

It was a long drive back to the X-Mansion.


	6. Chapter 6

When Cyclops and the others arrived with Jean, Professor X was waiting to meet them outside the front door of the X-Mansion. Kitty Hawk and Bobby were standing nearby, with a hospital stretcher ready between them. No one wasted any time carefully transferring Jean from the backseat of the sports car and onto the stretcher. With serious expressions, and Cyclops firmly gripping Jean's hand, they all rushed inside.

* * *

_I am in such, such trouble,_ Jubilee thought, still looking up at Magneto and wondering what she should say. "Um?" she started out awkwardly. "What?" She decided the best tactic would be to volley the topic right back to Magneto.

"Do not think," Magneto commanded Jubilee sternly, "that I am such a fool as to believe that one of Charles Xavier's students would end up here, with me, accidentally. No, I'm quite sure Charles is behind this. So tell me, my dear: what does he want?"

Jubilee decided the game was up. She twisted vainly in Mystique's snakelike, yet almost motherly grip around her arms and torso, then stopped when that gained her nothing. "Professor X wants to know if you're gonna attack the X-Mansion," Jubilee admitted. She wasn't quite sure what else she was supposed to do in this situation, and wished again for the comforting mental contact with her mentor.

"Oh, no doubt I will," Magneto agreed amiably, barely suppressed laughter in his voice, "but not today, and not anytime soon either."

"Yeah, but -" Jubilee began, starting to struggle again, then paused both her movements and her speech. Craning her neck around to try to look at Mystique, she said accusingly, "Hey! I thought you were supposed to be injured!"

"Toad may be worthless most of the time," Mystique said softly, "but he can be a pretty good field medic when he wants to be."

Magneto's eyebrows shot up as he looked at Jubilee with new understanding. "Revenge?" he queried, almost as if to himself. "So, Charles thinks that I seek revenge for her injuries?" Reaching out to lift his helmet from Jubilee's head, he said to her, "Tell your Professor that I have more important things to do than satisfy petty squabbles between us mutants, and that he should as well. I'm actually a little disappointed. I was expecting something more fun and much, much more convoluted."

_Jubilee!_ the Professor's thoughts catapulted into Jubilee's mind, and she could sense his worry along with it.

_Don't worry, Professor,_ she reassured him quickly. _I think... I think everything's okay._

"So..." Jubilee said hopefully, beginning to squirm yet again in Mystique's grasp. "...Can I go now?"

"Hey!" Thermostat, who had been quiet for the last few minutes, suddenly shouted. "What about me? I never asked to be here in the first place, you jerks!" That last insult was clearly meant for everyone in the room but Jubilee and himself.

"Oh, come on!" Jubilee exclaimed, starting to feel cranky. Elbowing Mystique as hard as she could in the ribs, which wasn't very hard at all from her constrained position, she complained, "Lemme go, will you? It's not like I'm going anywhere with Chewbacca at the door over there." She jerked her head towards the hotel room door to indicate where Sabretooth still stood, arms folded, with a bored look on his face.

Magneto gave Mystique a permissive nod, and the blue mutant lady finally let go and backed off. She stood, walked lithely to the corner where Toad was sitting in the lone beige-pink chair, and gave the other mutant a threatening look. Toad reluctantly scampered away, giving up his seat. Mystique gracefully sank into the chair, looking very much like a beauty queen assuming her throne, and watched the rest of the proceedings from there while Toad crouched, sulking, in another corner of the room under the floor lamp.

"Thanks," Jubilee said, rather sarcastically and sulkily herself. "Now, can I -" she glanced at Thermostat, then continued, "- can _we_ go now, or what?"

"You can go," Magneto told Jubilee graciously.

"Um, thanks," Jubilee said again, caught off guard. That wasn't exactly the reaction she was expecting from the supervillain, Magneto. Before he could change his mind however, the two teenagers stood and quickly made their way to the door. _I still sense trouble,_ Jubilee thought, to both herself and Professor X, and she reached past Sabretooth for the doorknob. "Ex_cuse_ me," she told the huge mutant rudely, not the least bit intimidated by him, despite their last encounter when Wolverine had had to save her from him.

Grudgingly, Sabretooth stepped aside, just barely enough for Jubilee to open the door. She did so, but just as she started to step through, Magneto spoke again. "_You_ can go," he repeated, "but I'm afraid I haven't had the pleasure of Thermostat's company quite long enough just yet."

As his boss spoke, Sabretooth grinned and put one of his enormous clawed hands on Thermostat's shoulder to restrain him.

Jubilee paused uncertainly at the door for a moment. _Professor...!_

_Go, Jubilee. We know where he's being held, now._

_No,_ Jubilee thought back firmly. _Sorry, Professor._

"Hey, you!" Jubilee shouted, kicking Sabretooth in the leg while grabbing onto his massive forearm with one hand and pounding on it with her other fist.

Sabretooth was distracted just enough by his amusement as he turned to look at the comparatively tiny girl, that Thermostat was able to wrench free.

"C'mon!" the boy shouted, grabbing Jubilee by the back of her yellow coat and hauling her out the door after him.

"You fool!" Magneto roared. "How could you let him get away?"

The two kids ran as fast as their legs would take them, knowing that if they were caught again they would be hopelessly outmatched.

"Thanks!" Thermostat panted as he ran down the city streets next to Jubilee. "Y-you didn't have to do that for me, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Jubilee replied, "but I _did_ have to. Hey! In here!" Jubilee turned and led Thermostat into a busy shopping mall.

"But where do we go, now?" Thermostat asked, trying to catch his breath.

"Where else?" Jubilee grinned, equally breathlessly. "The pizza parlor. They'll never find us through the other kids there!"

_Good work, Jubilee!_ Professor X sent his thoughts. _I'm sorry I doubted your abilities as one of the X-Men._


End file.
